‘Has a Knack of Picking Wickets..’: Rahul Dravid Defends Under-fire Shardul Thakur Ahead of New Zealand Clash – News18

Team India coach Rahul Dravid has insisted that he knows the playing XI which will take to the field against New Zealand for the ICC ODI World Cup 2023 clash in Dharamsala on Sunday. The two table-toppers are set to lock horns on October 22 and Rohit Sharma-led India will be without the services of Hardik Pandya.

Dravid said that while the team’s balance will not be the same in Pandya’s absence, he threw his weight behind Shardul Thakur who has been under fire owing to his lacklustre bowling displays in the World Cup so far.

Shardul hasn’t gotten the chance to bat in the tournament till date, his bowling hasn’t inspired too much confidence either. The all-rounder has picked two wickets so far, in three games, having sat out India’s opening World Cup game against Australia.

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Former Indian cricketer Dodda Ganesh even claimed that going by Shardul’s bowling performances, he would ‘struggle’ to make Karnataka’s playing XI, but Dravid has reiterated the wicket-taking ability of the 32-year-old ahead of the New Zealand clash.

“Shardul clearly, his role was to be that kind of bowling all-rounder for us, you know, in the games that he played. In the games that he played, we saw him as someone who certainly has a happy knack of taking wickets as we have seen and then bowling those middle overs for us and being like a fourth seeming option for us on certain wickets which would probably require that fourth seeming option,” Dravid told reports in the pre-match presser on Saturday.

“And plus, obviously, he hasn’t had a chance to really bat a lot over the last bit. But certainly, he’s been working very hard in the nets with his batting. And we’ve been working very hard on it,” the Indian head coach added.

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Dravid also refused to spill the beans on India’s playing XI and whether the management would continue to stick with Shardul Thakur for the top-of-the-table clash.

“Obviously, with Hardik not being there and Hardik being one of those four seamers, we’ll just have to see with the combination we can go with. We certainly can go with, obviously, the three fast bowlers or the three spinners. With that kind of combination, we still could play him and play Ash and move Jadeja up,” stated Dravid further.